But you’ve guessed already: not predatory, bullying paedos and sex attackers per se, but homosexuals.
A story in Pink News tells us:
A Vatican official has said that the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church was caused by gay men preying on teenage boys, rather than paedophilia.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, read out a statement after a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva.
He said: “Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 per cent belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17.”
Tomasi added that it would be “more correct” to refer to ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males, than paedophilia.
The statement also attacked other religions, with Tomasi saying that most US churches embroiled in abuse scandals were Protestant, adding that the problem was also common in Jewish communities.
Tomasi said: “As the Catholic church has been busy cleaning its own house, it would be good if other institutions and authorities, where the major part of abuses are reported, could do the same and inform the media about it.”
For a start, the tu quoque argument (others did it too, so our own culpability is lessened) is flawed. We’re talking about Catholic pervs for the time being.
I don’t know what proof he has of the sexual orientation of most of the priests who used their positions to prey on and attack young people. Let’s say he’s right. Does this change the degree of evil? Is it better to prey on girls than on boys? Does that make it just a little less heinous – a venial rather than a mortal sin?
The sex of the victims is immaterial, since the crime was attacks on them by priests in the employ of this evil organisation, an organisation that has gone to great lengths to cover up and play down.
Tomasi goes on to say only 2.5 to 5 per cent of Catholic clergy had been involved in pervy practices involving young people. The Times (London) has a “Holy See” diplomat called Monsignor Hubertus Megen saying very much the same thing.
Perhaps Tomasi was reading from a statement written by Megen. Who knows? Who cares? The fact is that the Vatican is up to its old tricks of playing down its priests’ offences against other – and vulnerable – human beings.
And that 2.5 to 5 per cent is still a helluva lot of offenders.
If you’d like to rub your hands while reading a thorough condemnation of Pope Twatzinger, try this one from the Guardian. It’s a humdinger, ending with the following paragraph:
So this is the man who is coming to lecture us about morality. Welcome, Benedict XVI, Episcopus Romae, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God. Don’t tread on the corpses.
2 comments:
You know the old joke, "How can you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving". It also applies to Catholic clergy.
Our local Bishop is good for trying to backpedal.
'Don't blame us, just look at those pervy Jews.'
Hmm, heard that before somewhere. Little bloke with a moustache, practising Catholic, pope in the 1930's endorsed his dictatorship in Germany. Current pope was in his youth club.
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